Referee quits after death threats

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Swedish soccer referee Anders Frisk walks across the gravel soccer field in Goteborg, Sweden, where he refereed his first match 27 years ago. He has now quit the game.Photo: AP

Swedish referee Anders Frisk, who had charge of Chelsea's
dramatic first-leg Champions League tie against Barcelona, quit
soccer yesterday, blaming death threats from English fans.

Frisk sent off Chelsea striker Didier Drogba in the first-leg
match in Barcelona when the English side was leading 1-0. Chelsea
eventually lost 2-1 but went through on aggregate after winning the
home leg 4-2 last week when Italian Pierluigi Collina was the
referee.

Frisk's decision shocked the soccer world, not least by directly
linking it to threats to kill him in messages by telephone, e-mail
and letter from Chelsea fans.

"The game is just not worth all that," Frisk, 42, said on the
Swedish football federation website. "The safety of my family is
more important than anything."

Frisk, one of the world's most respected referees, gave Drogba a
second yellow card for raising his foot too high in a challenge on
Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes. Drogba later claimed he had not
touched Valdes.

"I have so much experience that everyone should understand that
I would never let a coach enter my changing room during a match,"
Frisk said.

The Swede was at the centre of another Champions League
controversy last September when he abandoned a match between Roma
and Dynamo Kiev in Rome after being hit by an object thrown from
the stands.

Roma was later handed a 3-0 defeat by European football's
governing body, UEFA, and ordered to play two home matches behind
closed doors.

Frisk has refereed 132 internationals and appeared at three
European Championship finals and the 2002 World Cup finals.

The president of the Swedish FA, Lars Ake Lagrell, said: "Anders
is one of the best referees in Europe and I am so disappointed he
has made this decision. I can't tell you where the threats came
from but I know that Anders will not change his mind now."